On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 10:42 PM, Stefan Dösinger <stefandoesinger at gmx.at> wrote:
>> Though, how would MIDI be handled. I think that OpenAL doesn't handle MIDI...
> Good question.
>> As far as I can see PulseAudio doesn't support MIDI either, but it is certainly available in Alsa, CoreAudio and on Windows Vista, even though its more tricky to activate HW midi on Vista.
>> Emulating MIDI through a software synthesizer won't fly, as this will make it impossible to use hardware instruments.
>> A related topic: How do Joysticks connected to the gameport work(which is the same hardware connector as MIDI). I think that a joystick already takes an entirely different path in the Linux kernel and it doesn't get anywhere near a sound system, so we don't have to bother about it. Is that correct?
>
Joysticks work using /dev/js or evdev these days. It was hard to find
some info on MIDI for Vista but I believe it still works using WinMM.
You really need oss or alsa for midi I think.
Roderick